1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of mobile telephony, and more particularly, to a system and method for receiving and transferring a telephone directory or a portion thereof from one cellular or mobile telephone to the same or another.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cellular or mobile telephones, including cellular or mobile radiotelephones having radio features, are provided with the ability to store a telephone directory having a large amount of telephone numbers. A user typically programs or stores a telephone directory within a memory of the cellular telephone by using a keypad of the telephone to input the telephone numbers of the telephone directory one-by-one and by pressing a key after inputting each number to signal the telephone to store the telephone number. The memory is generally a built-in random access memory (RAM), such as a RAM module of a central processing unit. The memory could also be a removable memory card as known in the art.
The task of inputting each telephone number of the telephone directory is time consuming and tedious. Nonetheless, such a telephone directory allows the user to program in a predetermined number of telephone numbers and names (and/or other identifiers) associated with the telephone numbers. Accordingly, the user can program frequently used telephone numbers into the phone and retrieve a desired number using an associated name or other identifier, thereby eliminating the need to remember a particular number or to push several keys on the keypad. Once retrieved, the cellular telephone can automatically dial the number.
The task of inputting each telephone number often needs to be repeated whenever the cellular telephone user acquires another permanent or temporary cellular telephone; whenever a company or other entity hires a new employee and desires for the new employee to have a particular telephone directory, e.g., a telephone directory listing the telephone numbers of various vendors or employees, stored in his cellular telephone; whenever a cellular telephone user desires to have a portion of or the entire telephone directory of another telephone stored in his telephone; etc.
It is envisioned therefore to enable a cellular telephone user to be able to transfer the telephone directory or a portion thereof from one cellular telephone to another cellular telephone via a remote central station without having to individually input each telephone number of the telephone directory all over again. It is also envisioned to enable a cellular telephone user to be able to store his telephone directory or a portion thereof at the remote central station as a permanent or temporary backup. The user can then retrieve from the remote central station his telephone directory or a portion thereof and store the telephone directory or the portion thereof in his cellular telephone, if the telephone directory stored in his telephone is inadvertently deleted. The telephone directory or the portion thereof can also be retrieved and stored in another cellular telephone.
This is crucial since many cellular telephones have the capacity to program up to 100, and even as many as 250, telephone numbers. Furthermore, the telephone keypad is typically limited to fewer keys than there are letters so that a single key is used to input multiple letters. Furthermore, the display on most telephones has only one or a few lines and may not provide enough characters to simultaneously display both a complete name and number. For these reasons, programming a large number of telephone numbers can be difficult and time consuming, and frustrating when the telephone directory already exists in digital form within another cellular telephone.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a cellular or mobile telephone with the ability to transfer a telephone directory or a portion thereof stored therein to another cellular telephone via a remote central station, such that the transferred telephone directory or the portion thereof does not have to be typed. Prior disclosures have not provided a design for a cellular telephone capable of transferring a telephone directory or a portion thereof stored therein to another cellular telephone via a remote central station. Further, prior disclosures have not provided a design for a telephone directory management system capable of receiving at a remote central station a telephone directory or a portion thereof stored within a cellular telephone, storing the telephone directory or the portion thereof at the remote central station for temporary and permanent backup, and transferring or transmitting the same from the remote central station to the same cellular telephone or to another cellular telephone for storage therein.
Further still, prior disclosures have not provided a method for operating a remote central station capable of receiving, storing and transferring a telephone directory or a portion thereof from a cellular telephone to the same cellular telephone or to at least another cellular telephone where the operator of the remote central station is paid a fee for providing and/or performing the storing and transferring services.